Be the Change

There are no words to express the feelings evoked by the events of the past 24 hours in Washington DC. The images of people taking the nation’s Capital building by violent force, carrying the flag of an enemy combatant on those hallowed grounds and a mob refusing to accept the election and uphold the ideal of a peaceful transfer of power is incomprehensible. My heart is broken.

I was raised by a combat veteran of WW ll. Patriotism was a thing in our home. A really big thing. A really, really big thing. I was taught how countless lives had been given to protect and defend the constitution. Countless more, like my father, gave years of their young lives in the cause. This was a scene my father could never have imagined. It is a scene I would have never imagined in my wildest imagination.

Our country is in need. We need to change, but everyone seems to think that means someone else changes. If you would just change your opinion to match mine, if you would just change your vote to match mine, if you would just change your values to match mine. This type of “no compromise”, “no room for you if you don’t agree with me” thinking has led us here. More of the same will not lead us to a solution.

The great Gandhi said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” The change we need starts within each of us. We all need to see the end result of hateful speech. We all need to see the unavoidable end of extremism. We all need to see the necessity of a vision that is larger than our own self interest and that calls us to grander aspirations.

Once we see and learn, we must rid our lives and our hearts of such attitudes and practices. OUR hearts. We must put off hateful and divisive speech. We must return to a life that respects the other and seeks a middle path of peace. We must once again believe in the dream of a republic with “liberty and justice for all” that, though elusive, is always more than worthy of our greatest efforts and sacrifice. The change begins in us all. Then we can begin on a different path. Then we can begin to see the change we wish to see.

Peace.